Press Release 09/27/2018

Another day is over in this tough, weeks-long eviction by police and state machinery for the profits of RWE and their coal lobby.

After the destruction of Oaktown, Gallien, Cozytown, Beechtown and Kleingartenverein, Lorien is the last major occupation that is still fought for. For days, the police there tried to evict the people from their tree houses.

But thanks to the great support of sitting blocks, standing blocks and the presence of many people on spot, we achieved that almost all tree houses are still standing. TakaTuka is the only tree house from where the climbing police today “saved” people with lift trucks and that was then thrown like garbage on the ground. Even the occupation on the trees did not simply endure the destructive intentions of the task forces. By occupying permanently the traverses and the new tripod built last night, this occupation is still alive.

But as already in the last few weeks, the police again was very violent today. In particular, the people of the sit-in had to experience the brutal action of the police on their own body. Some were dragged through the mud, their nose broken or brutally pulled by the hair. Evidence videos of these terrifying actions spread quickly on the Internet. “We are peaceful. What are you?”, we can only ask, shaking our heads.

As a part of the eviction, more and more aggressive deforestation has been established in the areas of the tree villages. Hundreds of trees have been felled in the last few days to give in Lorien, as before in Oaktown, more space to the heavy vehicles. Although RWE is only allowed to start clearing work in the 12,000-year-old Hambacher Forst from 15 October, this energy giant makes it clear that it can easily pass laws in cooperation with the police. Whether legal or illegal, to RWE it does not seem to make any difference. The area around the lonely oak that housed the TakaTuka tree house is now like a huge parking lot for a shopping mall, as people from Lorien sarcastically said. This completely unnecessary further attack on nature shows once again how RWE and the government of North Rhine Westphalia don’t worry about the future of all our lives on this planet and that they are solely following the maximization of their own profits.

While our home continues to be destroyed, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia, in particular Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul (CDU), again and again spreads fake messages. For instance, Reul lied in his statements in the Interior Committee on the behavior of the activists after the fatal accident in the Hambach Forest. Reul pretends we yelled “Fucking eviction is only once a year” after our friend tragically crashed in Beechtown, but livestreams and eyewitnesses presented a very different picture of the situation. Minister of the Interior Reul, we shouted, we cried. “Murderer, murderer, murderer” came from the trees, as from the people on the ground. The irreverence and disrespectfulness of the repeated instrumentalization of Steffen’s death is completely unacceptable! Their blame is nothing but political calculation! We can only repeat our bewilderment and horror at your disgusting lies.

Despite these denials and insane destructiveness, the fight continues for the preservation of the Hambach forest and the immediate exit of coal. We are many, we are strong and we are still here. You can clear us out of our tree houses, but you do not smash the movement. Whether through demonstrations such as tonight or through solidarity campaigns across Europe, our message is clear: we will remain steadfast. We will stay resistant.